Dear Fanlax Experts - Help and advice thread.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

wow birdhouses? please share photos!!!

im not gonna finish it- i havent even oiled/treated the table top, perhaps i should but i thought that was just for the butcher block types... any guidance is appreciated.

because it's not exactly furniture- but rather a work table to get beat up and sit in a boiler room- i wasnt gonna paint it.

in fact about the butcher block- enough knife scuffs and dings and i sanded it a lot again this morning, re-oiled and re-waxed. much better.

[cradleandshoot]

wow birdhouses? please share photos!!!

im not gonna finish it- i havent even oiled/treated the table top, perhaps i should but i thought that was just for the butcher block types... any guidance is appreciated.

because it's not exactly furniture- but rather a work table to get beat up and sit in a boiler room- i wasnt gonna paint it.

in fact about the butcher block- enough knife scuffs and dings and i sanded it a lot again this morning, re-oiled and re-waxed. much better.

If I can figure out how to get the pics from my phone transferred over to this forum I will do so. This is just a suggestion on my part, raw wood gets funky looking when it ages. I often use tung oil on raw wood. It does not darken the wood, it highlights the grain. I like the look and it is easy to apply. It is much more forgiving than any poly finish.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

email them to yourself, download to your desktop. then open a free imgur account. they'll give you a URL to post. then hit the image button here, add in the link, and should work.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

i found some scrapwood and decided to build a produce bin, because right now we have the fruits/veggies in a disintegrating wicker basket.

here's the wood- mostly scrap, bought a few pieces of hobby board.




i screwed the frame together- i think the legs are walnut. they were rungs on a deck railing. note it's on top of my new workbench!




here's the quarter inch pine hobby board (2'' width), used to make sidewalls:




the trays went in, also pine, but now the 3'' version:




and then the remaining long sidewalls. i glued some to hide the screws:




it's not done yet. need to paint the top of the posts, do some sanding on the edges. maybe i'll oil it (food grade), but not sure it really needs it.

total cost was probably $15 for wood. i'd say... 3 hours to build, probably 2 hours planning. this time i cut everything first and then assembled. i was avoiding this because sometimes you have to make changes on the fly (bad planning!) and then it's too late if you've sawed. got lucky i guess.

there were definitely 2-3 errors that i had to undo, cut new wood, and reassemble. that keeps happening to me. hey, it's amateur hour.

so i'll be back soon- and take a photo in it's final resting place. i built it so that it doesnt interfere with a light switch, a power outlet, and a shelf.

last question is- will it hold fruit!!!

[DMac]

Love the new piece, Chairman, glad to see the work bench is still the star of the show in the photos though.
Will it hold fruit? Damn right it will, can throw a couple of watermelons in there along with some cantaloupes and a few coconuts (which is a fruit, nut, and seed all wrapped up in one).
Got a kick out of "hiding the screws"....can only see 14 (13 1/2 really) of them with the glued on front pieces (I get it though).
Nicely done. Remember, measure twice, cut once!!

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

thanks! i get too impatient sometimes with the measuring and cutting. i did the sawing manually here. and it shows- if you look closely where the sideboards meet, they are well off. i might try to sand it this week to smooth out the uneven joints.

[DMac]

thanks! i get too impatient sometimes with the measuring and cutting.

Yup, and that's kinda the difference between a master carpenter and a garage hack, eh?
That measuring is some tough stuff. Measure then cut. Take the piece back to the space and it doesn't fit. Whatthe-eff? How does that happen??? It's happened to me too.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

it really is- as far as i can tell.

[NoLeft]

CotB, I would cut off the protruding top of the four support posts, else you, and whoever uses the bin, is going to bang and scrape hands many times as produce is both input and output...cut off the "extra" to the level of highest slat.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

i considered that- i actually built them purposefully but now youve got me questioning it!!!

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

i did some touchup paint, put some felt on the bottom, and filled it up with corona supplies:

[youthathletics]

Love it.

Would also serve well as a place to hang fresh garlic, ginger, etc. and even dried herbs.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

look closely at that top rack- ginger is in there!

[youthathletics]

Hey Chairman....here is some more wood 'working' you can do. https://www.facebook.com/SportsCenter/v ... 361970273/

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

amazing! so creative.

do you know if he created that as a result of CV?

[DMac]

Not because of CV, but PBD.
Paul Bunyan Disease, the need to be around logs and trees.

[youthathletics]

I think I might have a touch of that PBD. I love splitting wood. Splitting-maul in hand, some coffee early morning, some beer early afternoon, and wind down the evening with a fire, bourbon, and good stoogie..life is good.

[DMac]

I suffer from it too, youth. Have split an awful lot of wood in my time...and yes, with a maul.
Youngest heats mainly with a wood stove, farmer friend not too far down the road (few miles) had a big section of woods he wanted cleared out (not a rush job by any means) to give the horses more room. Went down there for years cutting down trees (that's a rush, love doing that), then cutting them into the right length sections, loading 'em into the truck, haul 'em back to the house, split 'em with the maul from there. Lot of work but something very satisfying about it. It's amazing how many times you handle the same piece of wood before you put it in the wood stove.
STIHL....they make mighty good chain saws!!!
(Nice cutting down trees where you don't have to deal with the branches mess. Have cut down a couple at people's houses who wanted them gone....cleaning up the branches mess is the biggest pain in the asz of the job.)

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

since were talking outdoors- i (again this year) aerated the lawn by hand. i also pulled up all the thatch (hey it was nice this weekend). seeded. fertilized. now im on the water 2x per day plan.

i also want to flatten this year- so i have 9 bags of soil, to add 1'' at a time until this lawn isnt lumpy anymore. check back in 2022!!!

what's your guys process- do you fertilize, when, do you use the phosphorous-heavy products, what the H is milorganite, etc.

[youthathletics]

Here in Maryland we have clay, and plenty of it. If you don’t too dress it with nice topsoil you’re are fighting and battle you will likely lose.

I used a bunch of gypsum to break down clay, and this stuff called leaf-gro at my first home. The have since banned the original version because it had unpleasant things in it....but you could grow grass on concrete with it. Now it’s primarily broken down leaves that are vacuumed up by the state.

Now....I have said eff it. Whatever grows, I’m satisfied. Plus all the neighborhood kids use my yard because I have a bounce back, goal, and big net as a back drop and I’ll teach them fundamentals of shooting. They keep the weeds down....and grass .

If you are serious, get soil samples semi annually. It helps.